How to downgrade iOS 18 to iOS 17 — beta issues? Get back to a stable release

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Downgrade iOS 18 to iOS 17.

iPadOS 18
(Image credit: Apple)

Have you just installed the new iOS 18 beta and are having regrets? If you chose to install the developer beta on your iPhone and the bugs and stability issues are too much for you to keep going, it’s easy to downgrade iOS 18 to iOS 17.

Unfortunately, you’ll lose any data that wasn’t backed up or anything that you’ve done since updating to iOS 18 but if your iPhone is having issues then downgrading back to a stable release is the fix.

Here’s how to downgrade iOS 18 to iOS 17.

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Downgrade iOS 18 to iOS 17

The first step to downgrading from iOS 18 to iOS 17 is putting your device in recovery mode. Once complete, plug the phone into your computer and Finder on your Mac or iTunes on your Windows PC should launch automatically; if it doesn't, launch the software manually. iTunes will detect your device in recovery mode and ask you what you want to do.

  1. Click Restore on the Finder popup
  2. Click Restore and Update to confirm


  1. Click Next on the iOS 17 Software Updater
  2. Click Agree to accept the Terms and Conditions and start downloading iOS 17

If your device reboots to iOS 18 before the download is complete, simply repeat the steps above and put it back into Recovery Mode. Once the download is complete, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will be restored to the older version of iOS.

Once the restore is complete you'll be back on a stable release of iOS 17 without all the bells and whistles of the latest software coming to iPhone later this year. You're not missing out, however, most of the big features coming in iOS 18 are thanks to Apple Intelligence and that won't be available for a while anyway.

In the meantime, you can access features like the ability to Type to Siri on iOS 17 without the need for iOS 18. Yes, it's not quite as swanky as the new update but it gets the job done and is incredibly useful.

It's also worth noting that as long as you backup before updating to betas, you shouldn't ever have an issue going back to older software. However, Apple will stop signing off older software at some point and then you're stuck on the latest software for good.

John-Anthony Disotto
John-Anthony Disotto
Editor

John-Anthony Disotto is the Editor of iMore, helping you get the most from your Apple products and fixing things when your technology isn't behaving itself.

Based in Scotland, where he worked as a Genius Bar technician repairing iPhones, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself on closing his Apple Watch activity rings.

He leads iMore's work on AI in the newsroom, testing where it genuinely improves editorial work and where it doesn't. Every story is written, edited, and signed off by a person.

Previously in editorial at TechRadar and Tom's Guide, John-Anthony is an avid film geek who won the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019. Away from Apple, he tinkers with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.